Our Ocean Portal Educators’ Corner provides you with activities, lessons and educational resources to bring the ocean to life for your students. We have collected top resources from our collaborators to provide you with teacher-tested, ocean science materials for your classroom. We hope these resources, along with the rich experience of the Ocean Portal, will help you inspire the next generation of ocean stewards.
Featured Lesson Plans
Keeping Watch on Coral Reefs
Students learn why coral reefs are important, and what can be done to protect them from major threats.
Long Live the Sharks and Rays
Students will learn about adaptations that have helped sharks and rays survive. Students will explore similarities and differences between sharks, rays and other fish and that different types of sharks and rays have different temperaments and diets and that some of the largest sharks and rays are the most gentle.
Focus on Farmer Fish
In this two part lesson, students gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between environmental factors and organism adaptations through a focused study on a specific coral reef denizen—the personable farmerfish. Students first take part in an interactive PowerPoint presentation to gain background knowledge and then apply learned concepts by participating in a board game.
Search Lesson Plans
Find lessons/activities by topic, title or grade levels. Sort by newest or alphabetically. Lessons were developed by ocean science and education organizations like NOAA, COSEE, and NMEA to help you bring the ocean to your classroom.
Grade Level
Lesson Subject
Climate Change Metaphors
Wild BC
Students will use and describe how a variety of objects provide metaphors for why climate change is occurring and the impacts resulting from it. Students will demonstrate the ability to interpret metaphors, describe the factors contributing to climate change and make connections between human behavior and environmental changes.
Head to Foot
NOAA
The lesson begins with a broader introduction on new species discovered around seamounts, then narrows down through mollusks to focus on squids. Students research and write reports on squids covering their body forms, feeding behavior, movement, and interesting facts.
Jelly Critters: Gelatinous zooplankton
NOAA
In this activity, students will be able to compare and contrast at least three different groups of organisms that are included in ‘gelatinous zooplankton’, describe how gelatinous zooplankton fit into marine food webs, and explain how inadequate information about an organism may lead to that organism being perceived as insignificant.
Let’s Make a Tubeworm
NOAA Ocean Explorer
Students will be able to describe the process of chemosynthesis in general terms; to contrast chemosynthesis and photosynthesis; describe major features of cold seep communities; and list at least five organisms typical of these communities. Students will be able to define symbiosis; describe two examples of symbiosis in cold seep communities; describe the anatomy of vestimentiferans; and explain how tubeworms obtain their food.
Mutualism and Coral Reefs
Moorea Coral Reef LTER Education
This lesson is created to stress the idea of interrelationships among organisms and how this can effect the surrounding environment. This lesson also goes step by step through the scientific approach to developing and implementing a scientific research study. Students are expected to write their own ideas about the best way to investigate the scientific questions provided, and compare their ideas to those of the actual researcher.
Sea Surface Temperature and Coral Bleaching
NASA
Students will learn about how ocean temperature increase can be a cause of coral bleaching.
Shark!
Sea World Education
Students explore the natural history of sharks and recognize that humans are an interconnected part of sharks’ ecosystems.
Symbiosis and Coral Anatomy
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
Students read and then present to the class about different types of symbiosis. They are then introduced through a PowerPoint presentation to the coral-zooxanthellae relationship.
Where Does it Live, and What Does it Eat?
National Marine Educators Association
Students research the habitat and food of organisms living in a mangrove estuary, illustrate where mangrove organisms live and diagram a mangrove estuary food web.
Why Do We Explore the Ocean?
NOAA Ocean Explorer
Students will be able to discuss why scientists believe there are important undiscovered features and processes in Earth’s ocean; discuss at least three motives that historically have driven human exploration; explain why ocean exploration is relevant to climate change; and discuss at least three benefits that might result from ocean exploration.